Jealous husband jailed for life for pickaxe killing of wife's doctor lover

Tearful: The judge told Andrew Hill he had reacted in a ''vengeful and cowardly' way to the affair

An engineer was jailed for life yesterday for murdering a doctor who was having an affair with his wife.

Andrew Hill, 49, bludgeoned Colin Shawcross to death with a pickaxe handle after his wife Julie, a nurse, said she was leaving him.

Immediately after Hill was convicted by a jury, his victim's wife revealed that she had forgiven her husband's infidelity before his death.

Describing her husband as a kind, gentle and generous man, Carol Shawcross, 60, said the killing had wrecked their plans to rebuild their relationship.

'His murder has robbed me of the companionship, contentment and security that Colin and I had planned in retirement,' she said outside court.

Following the murder, Hill stuffed the body of Dr Shawcross, 58, into the GP's Jaguar and used his cable-laying skills to bury him 5ft underground in a wood eight miles away.

Police arrested him and charged him soon afterward but were unable to find the body for almost six months.

Finally, detective work led to the discovery of a wheelbarrow and two spades belonging to Hill. The body was dug up nearby.

Hill will serve at least 17 years before being considered for parole. Judge Mr Justice Wilkie told him he had reacted in a 'devious, vengeful, cowardly and unmanly' way to the end of his marriage.

Hill's story that he paid two thugs £500 to frighten the doctor off and he had nothing to do with the January 2009 murder was described by the judge as an utter fabrication.

Tragedy: Dr Colin Shawcross (L) was killed after his lover told her husband she would be leaving him. His wife, Carol (R) revealed she had forgiven him

At the jury's guilty verdict, a tearful Hill clung to the security glass in front of the dock at Sheffield Crown Court.

Before sentencing, Mrs Shawcross - also a doctor - read a moving
statement to the court about the effect of the murder on herself and
her three sons, James, 30, Edward, 27, and Richard, 25.

'It has brought indescribable distress and misery which has been
compounded by the concealment of his body,' said the 60-year-old.

'Until his remains were found our lives were sad and our
thoughts negative which adversely impacted on our professional, social
and family life.'

Lover: Nurse Julie Hill yesterday. Her husband killed her lover with a pickaxe

'Although we were temporarily separated we had discussed his
return to the family home and I feel that given time we would have been
reunited.'

The affair between Mrs Hill, 47, and Dr Shawcross began in
January 2008 after they worked together in the endoscopy unit of the
Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield.

In August, Dr Shawcross told his wife of 33 years about the affair
and moved into a rented house. Mrs Hill, who has a 12-year- old son
George, also told her husband.

She intended to move in with her lover but Hill's threat that he would commit suicide persuaded her to stay in the family home.

The court heard how Hill spent £1,400 on carpets and redecorated
his home in a bid to save his 15-year marriage. He also promised his
wife a sports car.

He told the court he had telephoned his love rival: 'I wanted to know why he had to have my wife. I wanted her back.

'I implored him to leave her alone. I wanted him to go back to
his wife.' He showed suicidal letters to his wife who was 'taken aback'
and she met Dr Shawcross alone to 'iron things out one way or the
other'.

When his wife returned Hill said she declared the affair over.
He told the court: 'It was finished between them. I was overjoyed. I
could have forgiven her anything.'

A fortnight later he discovered his wife's mobile phone bill and saw she had been telephoning and sending texts to the GP.

On January 23, Mrs Hill told her husband she was leaving him for
Dr Shawcross. He threw her out of the house, along with her clothes,
and she went to stay with neighbours.

Later that night Hill drove from his house in Woodall, near
Rotherham, to his love rival's home in Aston, Sheffield, and bludgeoned
him to death on the patio.

Mrs Hill found a large pool of blood when she went to look for her lover the next morning.